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In Medias Res

Frozen Mango Chunks, 04 August 2024

Last month I discovered that my local grocery store was selling large bags of frozen mango chucks for ten bucks a package.

Well, I like mangoes and if I can get a big pile of them without having to skin the fruit and paying for the pit, maybe it's worthwhile checking it out.

I suspect the primary demographic for these things is folks wanting to make smoothies. For myself, I'm treating them like edible ice cubes to combat the heat.

I dump a pile of them into a bowl, set them on the desk next to me, pop one in my mouth and slowly melt it until it's soft enough to eat.

Most of the time, they don't really taste like fresh mangoes. The price tag was a "discount" and I wonder if these have grown a little long in the tooth and that's why they're being discounted. The "Best By" date on the bag is 20 December 2025, but maybe they were frozen, thawed and then refrozen and that's why the flavor isn't as robust as I'd like. But every once in a while a chunk explodes with pure mango flavor and it makes up for the others. And I suspect it's better than eating a pint of ice cream, instead.

When I first moved into my apartment it was never this hot in the summer.

Back then, there was a line of poplar trees on the west side of the property and they shaded the apartment from the sun. But nearly twenty years ago they cut all the poplar trees down. I guess they had grown so tall there was a risk of them falling over.

Since then, every summer has been brighter and warmer in the apartment.

But over the last decade it has become considerably worse as the climate crisis intensifies. Ten years ago I did not dread the heat nor worry about forest fires quite so much.

And I would not have considered a big bag of frozen mango chunks to be such a worthwhile deal for trying to beat the heat.